Justice BV Nagarathna, currently a Judge of the Karnataka High Court, could become the first woman Chief Justice Of India. Here’s all you need to know about her.
Not a single woman judge has figured in the list of 48 Chief Justices of India since it came into existence on January 26, 1950. However, Justice BV Nagarathna can break this deadlock and become the first woman CJI.
With the Supreme court recommending names of three woman judges for elevation, the route may be clear for India to get its first woman CJI in 2027.
Justice BV Nagarathna, currently a Judge of the Karnataka High court, is reported to be one of the names recommended by the Supreme court Collegium after meetings this week.
Born on October 30, 1962, BV Nagarathna is the daughter of former CJI ES Venkataramiah. She assumed office as a Judge of the Karnataka High court in 2008.
She is presently ranked 33 in the seniority list of High Court judges in India.
She enrolled in the Bar Council of Karnataka in 1987 and practiced constitutional and commercial law in Bangalore before being appointed as an additional judge of the Karnataka High Court in 2008.
She was made a permanent Judge of the High court in 2010.
ROSE TO PROMINENCE IN 2009
Justice Nagarathna came into the media spotlight in 2009, when she was detained, along with the then-Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, PD Dinakaran, by a group of protesting lawyers in the Karnataka High Court. Following the incident, Nagarathna made a public statement, calling out the Bar for trying to “dictate terms” to judges.
PART OF BENCH ON KEY ISSUES
In 2012, she was part of the high court bench that directed the Central government to create a mechanism to regulate broadcast media. The bench had stressed “a need to establish an autonomous and statutory mechanism to regulate the broadcast media, including television channels, in view of the upsurge in the industry and its impact on society in general and certain segments, such as children, in particular.”
In 2019, she was part of the bench that declared that temples are not a ” commercial establishment”, and its employees are not entitled to gratuity payment.
In December 2020, in a judgement on a divorce case, she called out the “patriarchal system” for failing women. “People always say woman empowerment, but the society does not know how to treat an empowered woman. Parents don’t teach their sons how to treat an empowered woman That is a problem with men, I will say that” Justice Nagarathna said in her order.
In July this year, she was part of a bench that held that children born out of void marriages also have a legal right to compassionate appointments.
During her 21-year-old career as a lawyer, Justice Nagarathna took up cases involving constitutional law, commercial law-including insurance law, service law, administrative and public law, the law pertaining to land and rent laws, and family law.
If her elevation is cleared by the Government, she is likely to hold office as CJI from September 23, 2027, to October 29, 2027, with current Chief Justice of Gujarat, Justice Vikram Nath, who has also been reportedly recommended by the Collegium, holding the office before her.
Her name has been under consideration by the Collegium for several months, but due to the deadlock among the Collegium over recommendations of names of some judges more senior in the all India list, no recommendations had been sent by the Supreme court to fill its vacancies since mid- 2019.
Article Credit: indiatoday